EARLY BOTANICAL RAMBLES. 



This he gave to his friend, the schoolmaster of Coulterneuk, 

 in whose garden it remained for years, till Mr. Forbes 

 presented it to the Rev. Mr. Milne, parish minister of 

 Tough. In the splendid rockery at the manse one of 

 the best of its kind, worth going far to see it still flourishes 

 in luxuriant beauty. It is a specimen specially prized by 

 Mr. Milne, because it once belonged to the old botanist, 

 whom he knew and respected but thought peculiar, and 

 because he says that that truly kingly fern is now extermi- 

 nated from the county. So that our hero unexpectedly 

 did royal service for the royal plant that day. 



In this rockery, there long grew a specimen of the curious 

 moonwort (Botrychia lunarid), carried by John in an old 

 napkin with his usual care. It was found by him in the 

 valley of the Leochel, near Droughsburn, where the minister 

 called on him to ask him to get a specimen, as it could not 

 be got about Tough. The plant died, however, in less than 

 a year, the species being somewhat fastidious as to soil 

 and situation. 



John's ardour and endurance were something quite 

 remarkable. He was frequently out on the hills all night, 

 coming home in the early morning when his neighbours 

 were getting up. One of his friends recalls having seen 

 him pass his house at dawn, after a night of storm and 

 rain, drenched to the skin, but blithe and joyous, from 

 having succeeded in obtaining some rarer species over 

 the Coreen Hills, north of the Bridge of Alford. Several 



plants, as found there, in the list published in 1842 in the Statistical 

 account of the parish of Drumoak, by the Rev. Dr. Corbet, then 

 parish minister. Dr. Dickie mentions that in 1860 it had become 

 extinct near the Loch of Park. 



N 



